Hard Core
by CaptainLoganPrice
Summary: Please Review!
1. The Beginning

Briareos

Deunan Knute

Briareos knelt beside Deunan. "Deunan, wake up." He murmured quietly. "We need to go."

Deunan shifted a bit, then awoke. She sat up. "How long was I asleep?"

Briareos looked away, his fingers lightly gripping the steering wheel of the tan humvee. "Not long." He replied, ignoring the look Deunan flashed him.

"Come on, how long was I asleep for?" She snapped, annoyed she had slept for so long.

"Don't worry about it. We were safe for the moment, and you needed the rest." Briareos muttered good-naturedly. "But we're just outside Arlington, but there's reports of some drones that are run by a local mob king called Gangster." He scanned the territory, the sand blowing wildly, dark clouds looming in the distance. "And it's about to storm."

Deunan looked at him, a bit startled. "And when did you get this info?"

"While you were asleep." Briareos replied smugly, nudging her with his arm. "Come on, don't worry. Just some cyborgs walking along. I was careful."

Deunan snorted. "Right. Dam it, Briareos!" She slapped him, but her eyes were lighter. "Don't let me sleep like that again!"

Briareos chuckled. "Deal deal. But you can't say you don't feel better."

"I feel like a pig for sleep so long."

Briareos chuckled, then stopped the humvee, his sniper rifle tucked securely in his arms. "Lets do some recon before we bring the humvee on down. We need to fill up on gas anyhow."

Deunan nodded. "Right." She hopped out, bringing her gun along. She tripped. "Fuck. See, it take me longer to wake up when I sleep like that." She accused.

Briareos turned away, so she wouldn't hear him laugh over the wind. "Come on."

Deunan rolled her eyes, pulling a scarf over her face to help shield her from the blowing sand. "Storm's strong." She shouted, but it only came as a whisper to Briareos, even though he was a cyborg.

"Yeah, I know." He called back, but Deunan couldn't hear him. "Deunan, did you- Deunan!" He whirled around in time to see something come up from the sand, grab Deunan around the waist and knocking the weapon from her hands before bringing her with it back underground.

"Briareos!" She screamed, before she went under.

Briareos felt something wrap around his leg and shot at the drone, shaped like an octopus. "Deunan!" He yelled, wrenching free, only to be caught again by the arm. He pulled the arm off the drone, which simple wrapped around him with another, bringing him deeper into the dirt. "Deunan!"

_**~Few Hours Later~**_

Briareos awoke to someone kicking him in the gut. He jumped up, wrapping the human in a - *human?* He though suddenly, dropping him to the ground. "Who are you?" He demanded, hands up defensively.

The human coughed, rubbing his throat. "Calm down! Or I might have wished I had left you for the crawlers." He spat, stepping back.

"Where's Deunan?" Briareos demanded instead.

"You mean the girl?"

"Of course!" Briareos roared. "Where is she?"

The man smirked. "If you'd calm down, I can show you." he eyed him carefully.

Briareos glowered, but stayed silent, relaxing a bit.

"Good. Follow me. She's with Cassie." The man pulled on a baklava, with a smiling skull on it, and red sunglasses over it, but it didn't totally hide his bright blue eyes. He walked through the dirt tunnels, till they reached a metal corridor. "This way leads to the surface." The man said, pushing open a door.

Deunan stood up. "Briareos!" She greeted him. "I see you've met our friend here?"

Briareos nodded, relieved. "Yeah. Where's my gun?"

The man pointed to a corner. "We kept them in here, since we didn't know how you would react."

Deunan patted hers. "They let me keep mine."

Briareos sighed. "Okay." He picked up his. "What's your name?" He asked the man.

The man shrugged. "Who's asking?"

Deunan answered quickly "Briareos. I'm Deunan. Thanks for saving us."

"No problem." The man replied, patting his side. "About time the Gangster made some more enemies."

Cassie giggled. "Oh Arkangle, you're just like papá." She giggled.

Briareos chuckled. "ArkAngel?"

The man, Arkangle, shrugged. "Yup. And you, my friends, better hope I like you better than I do now." He took a slight turn towards the door. "I don't like being betrayed."


	2. Chapter 2

Briareos

Deunan

Deunan ate hungrily. She hadn't eaten in what seemed like forever. She also enjoyed the chit-chat of Cassie, who stuck to her side 24/7. The hardly teen girl greatly admired her, but admired this ArchAngel even more. Deunan cast a glance at Briareos, who was studying ArchAngel's profile as the man bent over a different table, memorizing the maps spread before him.

"Go talk to him." Whispered Deunan to Briareos. "He did save my life, as well as yours."

"He didn't need to." Briareos grumbled. "I would have done it."

"Right, stuck-up." Deunan huffed, rolling her eyes. Men.

ArchAngel straightened. "I can hear you, you know." He snapped. "You two are leaving as soon as your vehicle is repaired. I have men on the job right now."

"The Humvee's damaged? How?" Deunan asked, sitting down again.

"Sandstorm. Got into parts of the engine it wasn't supposed to." ArchAngel said easily. "But I'm sure it will be up and running in no time. I hope." He added quietly.

Briareos cast Deunan a look., in which she simply shrugged. "So how long tops?"

"Perhaps tomorrow. My men were exhausted just dragging it back here." ArchAngel replied, boredom lacing his voice. "Look, I need to check the perimeter before I'm done for the night. The Gangster doesn't like them enough as it is." He straightened, wincing as he did, his right hand jumping to his side.

"ArchAngel?" Cassie asked quietly, her face worried.

"I'm fine, Cassie! Mind your own life." He snapped back harshly in return, stalking out of the room.

Briareos glanced almost pityingly at Cassie. "He usually like this?"

"No. Ever since the wars and the so called 'accidents', ArchAngel is not the same man he was. I guess we all aren't the same." She looked down sadly.

"Cassie, why is ArchAngel so cold towards us?" Deunan asked gently.

Cassie took a breath. "I can't tell much, or I would break a promise I made to ArchAngel years ago. However, I can bend them a bit. He used to have a twin. Brother. His name was Zane." Her eyes filled with tears, and she wiped them angrily away.

"And he never recovered from the loss?"

"No." Cassie replied. "No, he got over that quick, having to take care of me and my siblings. It's that he's the only human alive around for miles. That's probably why he rescued you. I've never seem him do that before. But he rose in ranks here pretty fast, and now he's leader of the Jaggeds. That's what we are, anyway."

"The Jaggeds? Sounds corny." Briareos sighed. "Let me go talk to him. I'll ask more about ways out of here." He added to Deunan's confused look. "Just with his perimeter patrol.

_**FEW MINUTES LATER, OUTSIDE. THE STORM HAS SUBSIDED A BIT, BUT SMALL CLOUDS OF DUST STILL SWIRL AROUND IN THE AIR…**_

ArchAngel swore as he sat down on a boulder, his long, jagged gash on his side bleeding again like crazy. "Stupid drones." He growled, re-wrapping it with fresh bandages.

"Trouble?" Briareos asked quietly, appearing out of the bunker.

"Nothing I can't handle." ArchAngel replied quickly, pulling his blood-stained shirt on. He gave an annoyed grunt. "too much girl in there?"

Briareos smiled. "For now. Your sister seems entertaining."

ArchAngel's gaze hardened. "She not my sister." He finally said at last, looking almost with a far-away look in his eyes. "She's my brother's kid. I'm an only child. Now."

Briareos stayed silent, leaning against a rock. "So what happened?"

"What?"

"That gash. Where'd you get it?" Briareos gestured to his side.

"Shit." ArchAngel sat down, getting dizzy. "Had to ask. Now I have think about it again." He grumbled, trying hard to ignore it. "When I got you guys outta the jaws of death, this spikes, well, I took a knife in place of your girlfriend. And don't feel like you owe me anything." He added.

"I won't. Um…, Thank you, ArchAngel. For everything." Briareos murmured softly.

ArchAngel glanced over at him, with a glimmer of a smile. "Not so bad yourself, soldier. Not bad at all."


End file.
